Healthy Eating

5 Tips for Eating Healthy During a Day Full of Work or School

It seems like these days, practically everyone is on the go, all day long. Whether you’re an office professional working the 9-to-5 grind or a student spending long hours in the library, it’s all too easy to overlook healthy eating in favor of the vending machine or local pizza joint. Here’s the good news: With some planning and a few new habits, you can incorporate the below tips into your routine and help yourself make healthy choices all throughout your busy day.

  1. Power through with protein. Protein-rich meals and snacks will help you stay full for longer throughout the day, making you less likely to give in to those doughnuts your coworker brought into the office. When you begin to digest protein, it actually sends a “full” signal to your brain and curbs your appetite – whereas unhealthy snacks like chips or candy bars send spikes of sugar into your bloodstream and can actually make you hungrier. Almonds, hard-boiled eggs, and Greek yogurt are all great foods to reach for when that mid-afternoon snack urge hits!
  2. Stay hydrated. If you’re on the go all day long, it can be easy to forget those 8 daily glasses of water (you know, the ones we’re all supposed to be drinking…). But the same part of your brain (the hypothalamus) controls both appetite and thirst – so when you’re dehydrated, your body can get confused and mistake that feeling for hunger. To avoid this, try adding a glass of water to your normal coffee routine or buying a reusable bottle to keep at your desk. Sipping on water throughout the day will help keep your body hydrated and reduce those fake “hunger” pangs.  
  3. Brown-bag it. Packing your own meals and snacks allows you to make healthy choices ahead of time. Make it an evening routine to put together some food for the next day; you can get a small, insulated lunchbag to keep things like yogurt or cheese fresh if you won’t have access to a fridge. When you have food readily available, you won’t be tempted to indulge in unhealthy options that are quick and convenient – your coworkers might miss you on the daily noontime fast-food-joint runs, but your body (and wallet!) will thank you.  
  4. Avoid sugar. As tantalizing as that mid-day soda might be, snacking on high-sugar foods can lead to a crash as your blood sugar spikes, then drops, feeling you drained and sluggish. Rather than reaching for a chocolate bar, if you’re craving something sweet try some fresh fruit – a handful of raspberries or a banana will give you that sweet taste, plus the sugar will be natural and you’ll get bonus nutrients and fiber!
  5. Eat often. Waiting long stretches of time between meals can make you ravenous and more likely to crave fatty, calorie-dense foods. To beat this instinct, try eating small meals every 3-4 hours. Staying moderately full will give you the presence of mind to continually make smart decisions about what to eat so you can properly nourish your body.

Berries

By making these changes, you can stick to – and even enjoy! – a healthy diet even on your busiest day. Fueling your body with the right foods will help you stay sharp, energetic and on top of your game all week long.

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Five Ways to Balance Work, School, and Life

With so many things you have to do, it can be tough to know where to start. Should you study for that test on Monday? Take that extra shift at work? But wait, what about the friends you haven’t seen in ages? Everything seems important, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day. The solution to your dilemma, my friend, is time management.

Just what is time management? It’s a series of tools and processes to help you get control over how much time you spent on each activity. Through the use of scheduling, prioritization, goal setting, and other resources, you can start feeling like you’re using your time wisely instead of wasting it.Read on for the top 5 ways you can use time management to better balance your work, school, and life.

 

1. Use a Planner

Mapping out your commitments against the time you have available is a powerful exercise. There’s something about the act of getting things down in “black and white” that makes it easier to make choices and set priorities.

While many use electronic planners, there’s nothing like a good, old-fashioned paper planner to help set your schedule. Research has shown that the act of writing something down helps students remember better. What’s more, you can have fun with a paper planner – doodle, add stickers, and color to your heart’s delight. This is a great way of alleviating stress and having a little fun with a packed calendar.

 

2. Stick It on a Sticky Note

Another tangible way of getting control of your schedule is by using sticky notes. For each task you have to do, grab a sticky note and write it down. Use the wall, a window, a table, or just about any flat surface to organize your sticky notes until you begin to see patterns. Are there certain tasks you could combine? Are some things really not all that important? Could this commitment be moved to next week? Sticky notes help you think flexibly, allowing you to move things around until the plan is structured just right.

 

3. Put Yourself First

In a jumble of commitments, it can be hard to remember to take care of yourself. Running yourself ragged is a sure way to start losing control of your schedule. No matter how impossible it seems, remember to take time out to eat right, exercise, and most importantly, get enough sleep. Know yourself and how you work best: are you a night owl? Do you love waking up early? Do you do best working in small chunks over time or in last-minute marathons? Make sure your schedule reflects the schedule that works best for you.

 

What’s more, don’t be afraid to go the extra mile and take a little time out for doing something fun and relaxing. The key is moderation and keeping it all in balance. Beware blowing off a whole Sunday, but an hour or two off might just be what you need to recharge and get back to it.

 

4. Prioritize

There will be times where it’s just not possible to get everything done. This happens to everyone and it’s not a sign of failure. When you’re looking at an impossible number of tasks to get done in a limited amount of time, don’t be afraid to let some things go. The trick is choosing the right things by setting priorities. While your friends will understand if you can’t go out until next week, your boss or professor might not be so forgiving if you miss a deadline. Carefully consider the consequences of letting something go, and choose wisely.

 

5. Reflect

Every month or two, take some time to reflect on what’s worked and what hasn’t. Paper planner not doing it for you? Go with an electronic one. Missing your friends? Schedule some time with them. Don’t be afraid to make changes to even the most carefully planned schedule, because sometimes, it’s just what you need.

Woman on Phone

How to be Aware in a World of Smartphones

Do you have good situational awareness? Do you know, from one moment to the next, what’s happening around you—and are you responding to keep yourself safer?

Crimes against women are common, and when coupled with the fact that women are more likely to be addicted to their smartphones than men, this makes women far more likely to become victims. When your awareness is on your phone, the world around you takes second priority. You effectively cut off your own ability to avoid—and respond to—potential dangers. Although it might not feel like it, when checking your smartphone, you’re actually as vulnerable to attack as you are when you’re sound asleep.

Even “reduced” smartphone use leaves women vulnerable. Intermittently glancing between your phone and your environment can still leave an opening for a bad guy.  And while women often believe that they’re sending a “don’t bother me” signal while looking at their smartphones, a potential attacker reads the signal as “easy target.”

Staying constantly aware of your situation leaves you free to detect and act, and all of them require keeping your attention off your mobile. After all, awareness and preventative behaviors are 90% of self-defense, according to the National Self-Defense Institute in Florida.

Here are 4 things you can do to keep yourself safe—and they all involve putting down your phone.

Pay Attention. It’s undeniable that your phone diverts your attention. You could easily be taken down while you’reWoman in the City off your guard. When you’re looking at your phone or listening to a speaker, you’re missing subtle cues from others, such as avoiding eye contact, shifty body language, and darting eyes. These tiny signals can alert you to taking evasive action long before anything happens. Once something happens, it’s often too late.

Make Eye Contact. When you’re talking on your phone, your peripheral vision is blocked. You simply can’t see the people around you as well, and you’re unable to make good eye contact because you’re focused on the speaker. The same goes when you’re looking down at your screen.

When you look someone in the eye, you let them know you’re aware of them, where they are, and what they’re doing. You don’t need to challenge anyone by staring them down; holding their eyes for a moment is sufficient. This lets them know you’re aware and wouldn’t be so easy to take off guard.

Keep Your Hands Free.  When you’re holding your phone, you can’t use that hand to ward off an attack. The first instinct is often also to protect the phone. While the phone has value, it’s nothing compared to your own safety. Keep your hands free and be ready to fight back, if necessary.

CitAct Confident. Holding a smartphone instead of engaging in your surroundings screams a message of uncertainty. Potential attackers pick victims based largely on body language, and lack of confidence is the last thing you want to project. Walking and sitting with your shoulders back and face forward sends a message of self-assurance. It tells attackers, “I’ve got places to be and things to do. I know where you are and don’t get in my way.”

Not every situation is what it appears to be, and staying vigilant is the only way to pick up on subtle signals that something is wrong. Before pulling out your phone in any situation, ask yourself this: “Would I feel safe enough to lie down and take a nap here?” If the answer is no, be safe and put your phone away.

At RideShare Advocate Group, we focus on the safety of RideShare passengers, but we think ALL safety matters! Find out more about our services or contact us for safety education, consulting, news, and RideShare safety and legal concerns!